Tony Gonsolin allows 7 runs, reeling Dodgers swept Giants
The Dodgers pitching depth has been stretched to its breaking point, which we are all witnessing over the last month. Despite Tony Gonsolin’s best efforts, he was the latest pitcher put through the meat grinder in a 7-3 loss to the Giants on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
San Francisco’s three-game sweep — their first in Los Angeles since August 20-22, 2012 — vaulted them ahead of the now-third-place Dodgers in the National League West.
Gonsolin was perfect through three innings on only 29 pitches, his splitter and slider working like a charm the first time through the order. The efficiency kept Gonsolin in the game longer than perhaps was planned, considering the consternation in recent weeks about the right-hander’s ability to recover in between starts. Sunday was Gonsolin’s fourth start on four days rest this season.
The hits and walks started coming in the fourth, when the Giants scored two runs. A few little things didn’t go Gonsolin’s way, like when David Peralta followed his instinct to catch a foul fly just over the wall down the left field line in the fourth inning, allowing the first run to score on a sacrifice fly. A would-be double play ball that would have ended the fifth wasn’t fielded cleanly by Freddie Freeman, leading to another run.
But the Giants were hitting Gonsolin, too, collecting six hits and three walks (one intentional) in the fourth, fifth, and sixth, scoring in all three innings. They got him for two doubles, a single, and a walk in the sixth. Gonsolin remained in the game because his pitch count was low, the Dodgers have only four active starting pitchers and are in desperate need for someone, anyone to give them any sort of length at all, minimizing the exposure to the National League’s worst bullpen.
Whether Gonsolin was taking one for the team or not, he still got seven runs charged to his ledger, the most in any game in his career.
The Dodgers offense has bailed the pitching staff out on numerous occasions, but were not up to the task during the weekend series. After scoring four runs in the fifth inning on Friday, the Dodgers scored four runs on 19 hits in 24 innings.
That’s a recipe for a sweep, and doesn’t bode well for a Dodgers team that can’t seem to put consecutive good games together at the moment.
Sunday particulars
Home runs: none
WP — Logan Webb (6-6): 7 IP, 8 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
LP — Tony Gonsolin (4-2): 5⅔ IP, 6 hits, 7 runs, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
Sv — Camilo Doval (19): ⅔ IP, 1 strikeout
Up next
The Dodgers are off on Monday before making the short bus ride to Anaheim for two games against the Angels. Tuesday’s series opener (7:07 p.m.; SportsNet LA, Bally Sports West, TBS) is a battle of left-handers, with Clayton Kershaw facing Reid Detmers.
The TBS broadcast will not be blacked out locally.
Source: True Blue LA
